FT News Briefing

A wave of cash flooding bank balance sheets has prompted some US lenders to advise corporate clients to move money out of deposits, and Apollo has bought Verizon’s media assets including Yahoo for $5bn. Plus, the FT’s mergers & acquisitions reporter, Ortenca Aliaj, explains why the Spac boom has deflated.  Apollo buys Verizon media assets including Yahoo for $5bn https://www.ft.com/conten...

The trial between Epic Games and Apple is set to kick off today, and the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline is back in federal court. Plus, the FT’s southeast Europe correspondent, Valerie Hopkins, explains the love-hate relationships that Serbians have with Chinese investment in their country.  ‘Fortnite’ maker goes to war over ‘Apple tax’ https://www.ft.com/content/293780f7-d2f8-4f3f-aa52...

Amazon reported its second straight quarter of $100bn-plus sales, comfortably beating Wall Street’s targets, and the FT’s Elaine Moore looks at Apple’s results, which were boosted by iPhone sales. Also, the US government this summer will start sending monthly child allowances in an experimental effort to reduce child poverty. Plus, the FT’s markets editor explains how the big cryptocurrency exchan...

The Federal Reserve upgraded its view of the US economic recovery, but kept interest rates close to zero, Brussels has insisted it is putting in place tough new processes to ensure the EU’s unprecedented recovery fund is not frittered away and global health expert Abraar Karan talks about the current surge in coronavirus cases in India. Plus, the FT’s banking editor, Stephen Morris, explains how C...

Google reported record first quarter earnings, and stock market listings around the world are running at their fastest pace this year.  Plus, FT columnist Sarah O’Connor explains why millennials and Gen Z have been hit so hard by the pandemic, and what can be done to help them.  Google ad boom sends profits to new record https://www.ft.com/content/c686458c-e544-4c50-990d-954b91d955ed Glo...

The US will share up to 60m doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine with other countries, and Total has declared force majeure on its multibillion-dollar LNG development in Mozambique . Plus, the FT’s consumer industries reporter, Patricia Nilsson, talks about the celebrity and sex worker subscription site, OnlyFans, which has exploded in popularity over the past year.  This episode features...

Chinese companies have raised a record $11bn on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq this year, vaccine makers have warned about the risks of giving up patent rights to their Covid-19 vaccines, the White House is expected to greenlight a wind power project off the Massachusetts coast. And Germany’s Green Party has a leader who symbolizes the image of a party that is riding a wave of popularity a...

Joe Biden plans to announce a set of tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, and there has been a rally in the price of lumber due to demand from the housing market. Plus, the FT’s data journalist, Christine Zhang, explains how statistics can fail Asian American communities. Biden prepares to announce string of tax rises for richest Americans https://www.ft.com/content/a43d966e-b7d9-4ee1-bb77-2...

US President Joe Biden is set to announce his country’s steepest ever emissions cuts, Russia plans to pull out of the International Space Station by 2025, and Turkey’s opposition is asking where US$128bn in foreign exchange reserves has gone. Plus, the FT’s Shanghai correspondent, Tom Hale , explains why the corruption at Huarong Asset Management is creating headaches for Beijing.  US to prop...

A jury in Minneapolis found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on three charges in the killing of George Floyd, TikTok is accused of illegally collecting personal data on millions of children in the UK and Europe . Plus, the FT’s sports editor, Murad Ahmed, has the latest in the European football upheaval and the decision by leading English clubs to back out of plans for a new Super League...

The concerns that led to a halt in Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine rollout could damage confidence in the company’s longer-term vaccines programme, and Apple will allow the social media app Parler to return to its app store. Plus, Miguel Diaz-Canel has been confirmed as the new head of Cuba’s Communist party. The FT’s Latin America editor, Michael Stott, discusses the island’s future in the...

Consumers around the world have stockpiled an extra $5.4tn of savings since the coronavirus pandemic began, and many of Europe’s wealthiest football clubs have agreed to join a breakaway “Super League” competition. Plus, the FT’s Lex columnist Elaine Moore discusses whether the audio chat app, Clubhouse, has staying power.  Global savers’ $5.4tn stockpile offers hope for post-Covid spending h...

Global equities reached new heights and Treasuries rallied sharply on Thursday on the back of upbeat economic data in the US, and Dubai has become the first city to sign a contract with an autonomous taxi manufacturer. Plus, US president Joe Biden imposed new sanctions on Moscow on Thursday. The FT’s markets editor, Katie Martin, explains how investors reacted.  Global stocks hit record highs...

Three of the largest US banks beat profits expectations on Wednesday on the back of a strengthening US economy, and Egyptian authorities have seized the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal as they seek compensation of more than $900m from the Ever Given’s owners. Plus, the FT’s deputy editor, Patrick Jenkins, discusses Deutsche Bank’s turnaround after years as the “sick bank of Europe.”&nbs...

Coinbase prepares to be the first leading cryptocurrency exchange to list on a US stock market, and the eurozone economy is showing signs of adapting to coronavirus lockdowns. Plus, the FT’s private capital correspondent, Kaye Wiggins, discusses the corporate drama surrounding the private equity bidding for Japan’s Toshiba.  Coinbase listing set to capitalise on crypto bull run https://www.ft...

Boris Johnson has commissioned an independent inquiry into the lobbying scandal involving David Cameron and Greensill Capital, and the $5bn-valued cyber security technology company, Darktrace, has set out plans to float in London. Plus, the FT’s US sports business correspondent, Sara Germano, explains why US states have suddenly embraced online sports gambling.  UK government to announce inde...

Former British prime minister David Cameron has admitted he made mistakes over his government lobbying for Greensill Capital, leading Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is expanding its investment in chips, and Microsoft is on the verge of acquiring the voice technology pioneer, Nuance. Plus, the FT’s US equities correspondent, Aziza Kasumov, discusses US equities investors’ concerns about US preside...

Amazon looked on course to defeat a historic effort by workers to unionise an Alabama warehouse, and companies and countries around the world are weighing the Biden administration’s global corporate tax plan. Plus, the FT’s markets editor, Katie Martin, explains Goldman Sachs’ purchase of £75m of Deliveroo shares after the UK food delivery group’s disappointing initial public offering last month.&...

The start-up that owns the biotechnology behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US, Indian social media group ShareChat has raised more than $500m to grow its popular short-video app Moj, and Austrian activist Max Schrems has filed a privacy complaint against Google in France. Plus, the FT’s Washington bureau chief James Politi has deta...

The EU drug regulator will launch an investigation next week into whether clinical trials of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine contravened ethical standards, and Japan’s national champion, Renesas Electronics, is being forced to diversify due to the pressures brought on by the chip industry. Plus, the FT’s Latin America editor, Michael Stott, explains how president Jair Bolsonaro lost his grip o...

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen is calling on other countries to join the US in setting a corporate global minimum tax, and bond investors who took big risks at the outset of the pandemic are enjoying big returns. Plus, the FT’s greater China correspondent, Kathrin Hille, discusses how a little-known chip company that dominates the global semiconductor industry is navigating political tens...

The boom in Bitcoin mining is having an unintended consequence: it has driven up the cost of computer chips. Plus, the FT’s US-China correspondent, Demetri Sevastopulo, explains how China’s repressive treatment of its Uyghur Muslims is affecting Western brands who do business in the country.   Bitcoin mining boom adds to chip price inflation https://www.ft.com/content/d5c121c8-aefc-48d5-...

Wall Street touched a record high Wednesday as the White House released details of President Joe Biden’s multi trillion-dollar US stimulus plan, and the food delivery app, Deliveroo, closed down 26 per cent in its first day on the public market. Plus, the FT’s US labour and equalities correspondent, Taylor Nicole Rogers, explains why there are fewer black Americans in financial leadership pos...

  The head of the IMF has warned that the world should be ready for an emerging market debt crisis as the global economy emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia is using the Suez Canal incident to promote its own Arctic shipping route. Plus, the FT’s Mexico and Central America correspondent, Jude Webber, explains why Mexico’s citizens are willing to give president Andrés Manuel Lópe...

The Biden administration is sticking with a Trump administration policy that will make it easier for US diplomats to meet with Taiwanese officials, and US companies say they are feeling the bite of inflation. Plus, the FT’s global finance correspondent, Robin Wigglesworth, explains why banks might be more careful with hedge fund leverage after the meltdown of Archegos Capital Management.  US...